Portland Road, South Norwood: launderette

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Portland Road, South Norwood: launderette by Christopher Hilton as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Portland Road, South Norwood: launderette

Image: © Christopher Hilton Taken: 1 Jun 2005

Portland Road is not an affluent area by a long way, and that seems to have meant that a lot of the shops in it were never subjected to expensive, trendy makeovers. Launderettes, as a type, seem particularly prone to lasting in their original form, presumably because if you have no washing machine you need to get your clothes washed somewhere whatever, and aren't swayed into impulse visits by trendy marketing. This establishment lasted well into the 21st century with its pre-1971, pre-decimal coinage signage unchanged - this photograph was taken in summer 2005 - but underwent a makeover a couple of years later and then closed not long after, in what I tend to see as a just punishment for robbing us of this historic frontage. See also Image, Image, Image and Image

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

Image Location

coordinates on a map icon
Latitude
51.396012
Longitude
-0.068795